[Info-vax] Need some special help changing the system password

[johnwallace4 at yahoo.co.uk]

On Jan 30, 12:43 pm, H Vlems <hvl... at freenet.de> wrote:
> On 30 jan, 12:50, Carlos E Murillo-Sanchez <ce... at cornell.edu> wrote:
>
>
>
> > I'm bringing back to life my vaxstation 2000 and have
> > forgotten the system password that I used the last time
> > (which was at an exhibit at the university; I used something
> > innocuous so other people could play with it, but I managed
> > to forget it even so).
>
> > The thing is, the standard way of doing this from the
> > console did not work because I'm using a serial console
> > in the printer port -- I don't have the original mono
> > monitor.  So, when I SET /STARTUP OPA0:  and the
> > other parameters in the conversational boot up,
> > after I type "CONTINUE" I get an error about
> > it not being able to open the SYS$INPUT file.
>
> > I guess that OPA0: keeps assuming the system console
> > to be the mono monitor and standard keyboard, as opposed
> > to a serial console in the DE9 printer port.
>
> > So, if I want the thing to accept commands from
> > the serial console, what should I set /STARTUP to
> > in the conversational boot instead of OPA0: ?
>
> > Thanks,
>
> > carlos.
>
> Well, if you can get to SET/STARTUP then you might consider this:
> - Boot into conversational boot
> - SET STARTUP_P1 "MIN"
> - SET UAFALTERNATE 1
> - CONTINUE
> This procedure only works if there is no alternate SYSUAF file present
> on the system disk.
> Next, logon with SYSTEM and VMS will ask twice for a password. Just
> enter the same password twice (and keep it simple :-)
> = SET DEF SYS$SYSTEM
> = DEF/USE SYSUAF SYS$SYSTEM:SYSUAF.DAT
> MC AUTHORIZE MOD SYSTEM/password=   eetc.
> Hans

First, get (or improvise) the right cable.The difference between the
two cables is the link on the 9way between pin 8 and pin 9 which turns
it from a printer port into a console port.

Regardless of hardware, those who have years of fat-fingered typing
experience (eg me) might find it handy to SPAWN out as the very first
thing once commands are being entered interactively from the console.
That way, a tryping error leads to the death of the SPAWNed process
and control returns to the parent. You can then SPAWN out again and
carry on. Without that, a tryping error generally leads to... another
reboot, and that's not always a bright idea (on a VAXstation 2000 era
box, especially not bright).